A separate hall is devoted to Niko Pirosmaniís oeuvre. Many avant-garde artists were inspired by the art of self-taught artists and exhibited their canvases next to their own. Pirosmani was a legendary and tragic person. He spent his whole life in Georgia, his fatherland, but nevertheless he developed an international reputation as a master of primitive art. Pirosmani loved to paint animals, his contemporaries and national characters. The artistís color palette was limited and at first sight it may seem poor, but this laconism shows a gift of monumentalism and integrity of image.

Works by Soviet Non-Conformist artists of 1960-1970s are another important part of the show. The so-called "Second Russian Avant-garde" has challenged the official art. Among them there is Oscar Rabin, Vladimir Nemukhin, Eduard Steinberg, Mikhail Shvartsman, Dmitry Krasnopevtsev, Oleg Tselkov, Vladimir Yakovlev, Anatoly Zverev. Masters of the so-called «left MOSKh» are close to the non-official art. They are Illarion Golitsyn, Pavel Nikonov, Nikolai Andronov, Natalia Egorshina, Irina Starzhenetskaya, Andrei Vasnestov, and others.

The history of the 20th century art ends with the oeuvre of post-modernist artists, whose ironical style has developed in Furmanny and Trekhprudny side-streets. Their works scandalized the public during exhibitions of young art in Manezh and Exhibition hall at Kuznetsky Most. They occupied the post-perestroika galleries of contemporary art and include Vadim Zakharov, Vladislav Mamyshev-Monroe, Alexander Vinogradov& Vladimir Dubosarsky, Konstantin Zvezdochetov, Sergei Shutov, Georgy Litichevsky, Yuri Leiderman, Sergei Mironenko, Pavel Pepperstein, and others.